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Monthly Archives: January 2015

So, if you’ve stop by this blog in the last couple of months you’ll see that I’ve done several posts about “Compulsion,” the first book in the “Heirs of Watson’s Islands” series by author Martina Boone.

Now, I’m not usually one to fangirl about something too hard, but boy has “Compulsion” made me go gaga. It was my favorite YA read of 2014 and I’m one of those people eagerly awaiting “Persuasion” and staling Martina on fb and twitter (if I knew how to use tumblr I’d have one of those two).

One of my book friends was like “Why is this book such a big deal,” so I figured I’d tell everyone in case you are like my friend and on the verge of reading it but not sure. Let me give you a push off the edge here. PLUS, Martina is hosting a kick-butt giveaway (as she is known to do) and once you make it past this list you can win goodies, so look for the rafflecopter link below in pink!

Why I’m Obsessed With Compulsion

1. Martina Boone. That sounds weird and like I could possibly be arrested for it, but Martina has such an awesome online presence that I feel like we could hang and gab. She posts funny articles, shares books she likes, and makes a real effort to reach out to her fans. I love it and before “Compulsion” even hit the shelves I was dying to grab it because she seemed like an author with a story to tell.

It may be dumb, but I’m 100% more inclined to enjoy your book if I feel like I’ll like you. Maybe that’s wrong, but it’s how I roll. I’ve never met Martina personally (I was dying of some contagious disease when she did her promo tour in DC/NoVa) but I’m pumped to see her at the Norther Virginia Teen Book Fest.

3. The writing. Boy, can Martina turn a phrase and make her world come alive. I read “Compulsion” on a stormy night when I was alone and some parts of her book scared the crap out of me. Seriously. I kept peeking out of my window waiting to see a fire ghostie. Note: That I live in Downtown D.C. in a high-rise which makes this story even more embarrassing

4. The ending. Remember how I went on and on about how I love Martina Boone (in a totally non-creepy way) well the ending made me hate her. I was halfway through, devouring each page, hoping for some kind of explanation, only to get to the end. None of my questions were answered. I need answers Martina!

5. The thing I like best is that this book has a little something for everyone. I work part-time as a tutor and a lot of what I do revolves around getting kids reading. Reading is not only the best hobby out there, but a great way to expand your vocabulary, comprehension, etc. Needless to say, I recommend a lot of books the the girls I work with, but I’m finding it’s getting harder and harder to do that for my 11-13 year old age group. YA has a lot of suggestion, which is great for adult readers, but a little miffy for the on the cusp crowd. I loved “Compulsion” because we could share it as a group. The girls I gave it to loved it and we had some intense talks about Barrie as a female protagonist. I know not everyone looks at this as a plus, but if you have or work with older kids the rich history and use of literary devices in “Compulsion,” leads to a great discussion and a bonding experience.

COMPULSION (HEIRS OF WATSON ISLAND,BOOK 1)

Simon & Schuster,Simon Pulse

Hardcover,10/28/14ISBN:1481411225

Three plantations. Two gifts. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lives with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead–a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who somehow seems to know what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family’s twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

Early Praise for Compulsion:

“Darkly romantic and steeped in Southern Gothic charm, you’ll be compelled to get lost in the Heirs of Watson Island series.”—#1 New York Times Bestselling Author Jennifer L. Armentrout

“A fresh twist on the Southern Gothic —haunting, atmospheric, and absorbing.”— Claudia Gray, New York Times bestselling author of A Thousand Pieces of You and the Evernight and Spellcaster series

“A stunningly magical debut with a delicious slow burn to be savored. I want to live in this story world!” — Wendy Higgins, USA Today and NYT bestselling author of the Sweet Evil trilogy from HarperTeen

“Beautifully written, with vivid characters, a generations-old feud, and romance that leaps off the page, this Southern ghost story left me lingering over every word, and yet wanting to race to the compelling finish.” — Megan Shepherd, Author of The Madman’s Daughter

“Flawless, a true gem! With fluid writing that brings the southern setting to life and maintains a colorful cast of characters, this is a must-read for fans looking for a refreshing and addicting young adult paranormal read.” — RT Book Reviews

“Readers of Sarah Reese Brennan’s The Lynburn Legacy and Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle, will appreciate the ambiguity —real? or not real? —until suddenly the not real feels very very real.”— Sara Hines, Eight Cousins Books

Buy Compulsion

Compulsion is available anywhere books are sold. Signed copies are available from One More Page Books. You can also order with the special “I have a Compulsion for reading” bookplate from Eight Cousins.

From her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband, children, and Auggie the wonder dog, she enjoys writing contemporary fantasy set in the kinds of magical places she’d love to visit. When she isn’t writing, she’s addicted to travel, horses, skiing, chocolate flavored tea, and anything with Nutella on it.

This book was given to me as an ARC via NetGalley in turn for an honest review

Synopsis: Grace and Josh are both dead, which sucks. Grace is an angel and Josh is a demon, but both are vying for the soul of one guy. Said guy is BEYOND creepy and apparently the anti-Christ Despite their missions, Josh and Grace find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another, only problem is that naturally their relationship can’t really go anywhere, or can it.

So, I had some misgivings about this book when I first started it. I’ve been in a little YA rut these days and the beginning of this story was a little to teen like for me. But after the initial tremor, I began to really enjoy the book and the story, which I attribute mostly to the relationship between Josh and Grace.

What I liked: Josh. Oh boy did I like Josh. He had all the right ingredients I need in a book boyfriend. He’s hot, he’s tortured (sometimes literally), and he’s got swag. I like my book boyfriends with a strong dose of cockiness and Josh certainly has it. His relationship with Grace was really the stand out part of the book for me. I was incredibly invested and interested in how they were going to make their star-crossed relationship work. Outside of Josh and Grace the characterization of Cam (potential anti-Christ dude) was spot on, almost to the point where I was like “Woah, that’s disturbing.” The fact that he made me uncomfortable says a lot about Green’s abilities to develop a character. Despite his crazy, I found myself hoping he’d end up a good guy and help out Grace and Josh.

What I didn’t like: For the most part, what I have to say is all positive. I enjoyed the book immensely; however, sometimes I felt like the author was trying too hard to make this teen friendly. Some of the language had me struggling and the beginning was slow enough to make me second guess picking it up. That being said, I’m so glad that I stuck it out.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and if you are interested in the whole demons vs. angels thing than you’ll be interested in picking this up. My advice, is grab it and give it a chance even if you don’t like the beginning. Once the plot picks up this book is hard to put down. 3.5/5

Aimee’s wedding is supposed to turn out perfect. Her dress, her fiancé and the location—the idyllic holiday ranch in Brazil—are perfect.

But all Aimee’s plans come crashing down when the private jet that’s taking her from the U.S. to the ranch—where her fiancé awaits her—defects mid-flight and the pilot is forced to perform an emergency landing in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

With no way to reach civilization being rescued is Aimee and Tristan’s—the pilot—only hope. A slim one that slowly withers away, desperation taking its place. Because death wanders in the jungle under many forms: starvation, diseases. Beasts.
As Aimee and Tristan fight to find ways to survive, they grow closer. Together they discover that facing old, inner agonies carved by painful pasts takes just as much courage, if not even more, than facing the rainforest.

Despite her devotion to her fiancé, Aimee can’t hide her feelings for Tristan—the man for whom she’s slowly becoming everything. You can hide many things in the rainforest. But not lies. Or love.

WitheringHope is the story of a man who desperately needs forgiveness and the woman who brings him hope. It is a story in which hope births wings and blooms into a love that is as beautiful and intense as it is forbidden.

Review: I’ve been in a huge YA run these days, so Withering Hope by Layla Hagen came at the perfect time. I needed an Adult Romance to cleanse my power and have some naughty reading material. I’m very picky about my Contemporary Romances, especially because there are so many out there. If you are like me and pretty picky about what you pick up than I think you’ll really enjoy Withering Hope. It’s a quick read, well-written, plenty of drama, and of course, a hot, steamy romance.

What I liked: Tristan. If you’ve ever read any of my previous reviews you’ll know that I love my book boyfriends tortured and slightly damaged. Tristan definitely fits the bill. Not only is he broody and guarded but he is also protective of Aimee, the main female character. From the very beginning, he does all he can to make sure that she is as safe and comfortable as possible, despite the fact that they are stranded in the Amazon. Speaking of Aimee, loved her! She’s a strong female character who, while flawed, is also pretty remarkable. Not many women would be able to hold their own in the rainforest. Personally, I would be a mess and relaying on Tristan to save my butt. Aimee is an active participant in her survival and kind of kicks-ass. A strong female character always makes a book more enjoyable and Aimee’s strength coupled with Tristan’s hotness makes this engaging. Plus, who the heck is writing about stranded passengers in the Amazon! And the ending is so beautifully amazing. I don’t want to spoil but it’s the stuff true-love dreams are made of.

What I didn’t like: For the most part I enjoyed the book; however, I feel like if you are stuck in the Amazon you’d maybe face a few more perilous encounters. Despite a few life-threatening situations I sometimes felt like Aimee and Tristan had it kind of easy, but that’s just me, I like a lot of drama.

Overall, this was a quick and engaging read. If you love romance and steamy men you’ll be a big fan of this book.

My name is Layla Hagen and I am a New Adult Contemporary Romance author.
I fell in love with books when I was nine years old, and my love affair with stories continues even now, many years later.I write romantic stories and can’t wait to share them with the world.And I drink coffee. Lots of it, in case the photo didn’t make it obvious enoughAuthor links:

Lately, it seems that D.C. and it’s surrounding area has had nothing but nasty, nasty weather. For instance, today is a wonderful mixture of rain and snow. When you’re a kid this is like the possible best time of year, as an adult, not so much. With temperatures in the single digits and ice falling from the sky I find it’s been hard to want to do anything other than curl up with a good book, and while I can almost always find something to read, this past week I’ve found myself in a bit of a lull. I’m currently in-between book tours and find myself anxiously awaiting the release of some new titles I haven’t managed to get my hands on just yet.

So as we get further into Winter I get further into hibernation mode, which means there is a plethora of books I am highly anticipating. These next few months some very high-anticipated titles will be hitting the shelves. I’ve gone ahead and compiled a list of my most anticipated reads this Winter.

I’m so excited about these titles that I’m giving one away via a pre-order to cheer one lucky person up as we all try and fight the cold (even if you are somewhere warm and sunny Winter can be a pain). Check out my most-anticipated Winter list and enter the giveaway below.

I’ve seen so much buzz and early hype about this one that I’ve put the order date in my calendar. I’ve seen some mixed reviews but I’m really hoping we’ve got a winner on our hands here, I need a author to fangirl all over.

I’m both really excited for this one and really sad. It’s the end and I don’t do well with endings. I doubt I’ll be able to read this until June just because I’ll want to savor it for awhile. I started the Bloodlines series pretty late in the game thinking there was no possible way I could like it as much as I did “Vampire Academy,” guess I was super wrong there.

I recently binge read both Scarlet and Cress (reviews to come!) and I need this to hold me over until Winter!

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Oh geez, oh geez, oh geez. I JUST finished “The Winner’s Curse” and boy was I in love. Considering the ending, I’m about to hunt a person down for an ARC because I NEED to know what’s going on and I cannot wait till March. I absolutely adored the first book and I can’t handle this trilogy nonsense.

Giveaway Time: Follow the rafflecopter link below for a chance to win a pre-order copy of one of the books on my wishlist. Please note that this is only for U.S. residents. Sorry guys 😦

The Arcana Chronicles is one of my favorite YA series and I’ve been anxiously awaiting the next installment to come out and let’s just say Cole did not disappoint. This series has everything you could want; action, adventure, magic, and a hot/hot/hot love triangle. I started this series really wanting Evie to be with Jack, but this book really cemented my love of Aric aka Death.

Synopsis: Evie has escaped Death, kind of, and is heading back to save Jack from The Lovers. Turns out, that’s only half the battle. The true battle comes when Death and Jack force Evie to chose who she wants to spend the rest of her days.

What I liked: If I saw everything is that a good review? Probably not, so I’ll stick to just the things I adored and even then there are a lot of things that I loved. This is the third installment in the Arcana Chronicles but unlike some series there doesn’t seem to be any slowing down as this story progresses. From start to finish this book is chocked full of action and this time it focuses almost solely on Jack, Evie, and Aric. I love how Cole is able to create such an action packed story line while also creating very intense and well rounded characters. Speaking of characters, this installment focuses on the love triangle between Evie, Jack, and Aric, so naturally we have a lot of steaminess. When I first began the story I was totally devoted to Jack and Evie. Hot Cajun boy, yyellooo. But, suddenly this weird thing happened where, like Evie, I totally fell for Aric (aka Death). Cole really played with my emotions on this one. Jack vs. Aric has never been harder, but I came out on the side of Aric. He’s got that broody, tortured thing going for him and he hooked me. You’ll have to read the book to see how that whole thing turns out for Evie.

What I didn’t like: The fact that it ended. There’s a pretty big cliff-hanger at the end and I’m a little stressed out waiting for the next installment.

Overall, this was an amazing addition to an original and captivating story. 5/5

Back in 2014 (weird to say) I read an amazingly intriguing book called “The Collector’s Society.” It was one of those books that came out of nowhere to smack me HARD in the face. I laughed, I cried, I swooned and I absolutely adored it. In fact, I’m pretty sure I named it my favorite of 2014, an honor it maintained. Never before had I read something so original, fresh, and frankly well-written. Well, I assumed that I’d have to wait 25,000 years to get more news about the next book in the series, but luckily Heather is an angel and decided to not break my heart. So, without further ado I bring you THE COVER of the next book The Hidden Library. I’m positively, absolutely blown away by it and am dying to read it. If you haven’t read The Collector’s Society check out my review here and add the new one to your Goodreads list.

The Collectors’ Society’s adventures continue in ways you would have never imagined! Join them as you step into this adult fairytale with some of your favorite characters set to be released February 26th!! Heather worked with Victoria Faye from Whit and Ware for the design of this fabulous cover and we are so delighted to share it with you!!

Without further ado we give you the amazing cover for THE HIDDEN LIBRARY!!

Sometimes, the rabbit hole is deeper than expected . . .Alice Reeve and Finn Van Brunt have tumbled into a life of secrets. Some secrets they share, such as their employment by the clandestine organization known as The Collectors’ Society. Other secrets they carry within them, fighting to keep buried the things that could change everything they think they know.

On the hunt for an elusive villain who is hell-bent on destroying legacies, Alice, Finn, and the rest of the Society are desperate to unravel the mysteries surrounding them. But the farther they spiral down this rabbit hole, the deeper they fall into secrets that will test their loyalties and pit them against enemies both new and old.

Heather Lyons has always had a thing for words—she’s been writing stories since she was a kid. In addition to writing, she’s also been an archaeologist and a teacher. Heather is a rabid music fan, as evidenced by her (mostly) music-centric blog, and she’s married to an even larger music snob. They’re happily raising three kids who are mini music fiends who love to read and be read to.

When I read the first book in The Legion series I had mixed feelings. I liked it, but I also felt like it had a lot of similarities with the show “Supernatural.” I’m way into the whole demon hunting mythology but parts of the books felt like things I’d seen before. I enjoyed it enough to pick up the second book and see what the what is going on in the Legion world.

Synopsis: This is the second installment in The Legion series. The books picks up shortly after the last one with Kennedy separated from the rest of the groups. When they finally end up reunited we find the fifth member of the Legion and they begin their hunt for the demon they allowed to escape. Naturally, things do not go off at planned and the gang learns more about the world around them.

What I liked: The mythology in the series is very interesting and compelling. Garcia introduced a lot in this next book and though I found myself incredibly confused at times, I was also incredibly interested. I felt like I was trying to unravel the mystery right along with the gang and with each new twist and turn I fell a little further into the story. Not only did the mythological mysteries keep me intrigued, but I love the camaraderie of the gang. Though that their friendship is definitely tested, I still loved their bond.

What I didn’t like: Gosh I felt confused at the end there. The big bad seems to have no weaknesses, we’ve got a new facet with Illuminate and Free Masons that I could barely wrap my mind around, and there was a white dove. It was incredibly difficult to keep track of what was going on at any given time.

Overall this is a fun series for anyone who likes the whole demon hunting thing.